BAE Systems has signed a £133million deal to
provide the Brazilian navy with three
ocean patrol ships – and hopes to follow
it up with further orders.

The defence giant said the first of the
three 90m vessels would be
delivered in 2012 and could open the
floodgates to future orders.

‘It positions us really well as a partner
to Brazil,’ said BAE’s commercial
director Nigel Stewart. ‘This is very
much the start of a partnership, a
gateway to something for the next 10
to 20 years.’

Brazil is about to embark on a
naval modernisation programme,
dubbed PROSUPER, that will
require five more ocean patrol
vessels, five frigate class
boats and one support
ship.

They must all be
built domestically but there is no
prohibition on a foreign company such as
BAE taking charge of the manufacturing
process. Stewart said BAE hoped that
winning the £133million deal would help it in
the battle to supply ships for the
PROSUPER programme.